Another interesting posting from the delanceyplace site:
<<<<
In today's excerpt -- after the American Revolution, the British maintained
their support of the Indians along the western border of the United States,
limiting the ability of Americans to expand westward. The American push
against this limitation was the cause of the War of 1812, though some
contemporary textbooks still miss this key point:
"After the American Revolution, although Britain gave up, its Native
American allies did not. Our insistence on treating the Indians as if we
had defeated them led to the Ohio War of 1790-95 and later to the War of
1812. ...
"Most textbooks do state that conflict over land was the root cause of our
Indian wars. [The widely used textbook] Pathways to the Present, for
example, begins its discussion of the War of 1812 by telling how Tecumseh
met with Gov. William Henry Harrison of Indiana Territory to complain about
whites encroaching upon Indian land. Other recent textbooks likewise
emphasize conflict with the Indians, who were seen as backed by the
British, as the key cause of this dispute. All along the boundary, from
Vermont to the Georgia Piedmont, white Americans wanted to push the
boundary of white settlement ever farther into Indian country.
"This is a significant change for the better [in the content of these
textbooks]; earlier textbooks simply repeated the pretext offered by the
Madison administration -- Britain's refusal to show proper respect to
American ships and seamen -- even though it made no sense. After all,
Britain's maritime laws caused no war until the frontier states sent
Warhawks -- senators and representatives who promised military action to
expand the boundaries of the United States -- to Congress in 1810. Whites
along the frontier wanted the war, and along the frontier most of the war
was fought, beginning in November 1811 when Harrison replied to Tecumseh's
complaint by attacking the Shawnees and allied tribes at the Battle of
Tippecanoe. The United States fought five of the seven major land battles
of the War of 1812 primarily against Native Americans.
"All but two textbooks miss the key result of the war. Some authors
actually cite the 'Star Spangled Banner' as the main outcome! Others claim
that the war left 'a feeling of pride as a nation' or 'helped Americans to
win European respect.' The textbook The American Adventure excels, pointing
out, 'The American Indians were the only real losers in the war,' Triumph
of the American Nation expresses the same sentiments, but euphemistically:
'After 1815 the American people began the exciting task of occupying the
western lands.' All the other [widely-used] textbooks miss the key outcome:
in return for our leaving Canada alone, Great Britain gave up its alliances
with American Indian nations in what would become the United States.
Without war materiel and other aid from European allies, future Indian wars
were transformed from major international conflicts to domestic mopping-up
operations. This result was central to the course of Indian-U.S. relations
for the remainder of the century. Thus Indian wars after 1815, while they
cost thousands of lives on both sides, would never again amount to a
serious threat to the United States. Although Native Americans won many
battles in subsequent wars, there was never the slightest doubt over who
would win in the end. ...
"[There was not unanimity within the U.S. about expanding west. Some were
already concerned that it might increase the influence of slaveholding
states]. One reason the War of 1812 was so unpopular in New England was
that New Englanders saw it as a naked attempt by slave owners to
appropriate Indian land. ...
"Even terminology changed [as a result of the War of 1812]: until 1815 the
word Americans had generally been used to refer to Native Americans; after
1815 it meant European Americans."
Author: James W. Loewen
Title: Lies My Teacher Told Me
Publisher: Touchstone
Date: Copyright 1995, 2007 by James W. Loewen
Pages: 121-125
Keith Hudson, Saltford, England
<http://allisstatus.wordpress.com/2010/12/>http://allisstatus.wordpress.com/2010/12/
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